LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Superior Court system is looking to move out of the fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse on Forbes Street in Lakeport, according to a list of statewide projects approved by the California Judicial Council April 25.
The county”s trial court system is in the process of becoming state property to comply with an 11-year-old law that is being implemented in phases. The fourth floor of the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport houses four courtrooms, a clerk”s office and a jury commissioner”s office. As part of the transfer to state jurisdiction, the California Judicial Council is considering new courthouses statewide, including one in Lake County.
“The Judicial Council ? which runs the courts in California ? met in April, and we are on the list to do the initial planning and acquisition in the 2009-10 fiscal year,” Assistant Court Executive Officer Kip Rodda said.
Planning and acquisition involves finding land on which to build a new courthouse facility. Rodda said the new courthouse would include an attorney-client conference room and a jury waiting room ? amenities that are currently not available in Lakeport.
The Judicial Council listed the new courthouse for Lakeport as an “immediate” priority, the highest priority out of five categories.
The council rated Lakeport”s courthouse at five for security and physical condition, the least desirable rating on a scale of zero to five.
“Safety is an issue, and the fourth floor is really not level. If you set a pencil on a desk, it will roll toward the middle. There are structural difficulties on the fourth floor,” Court Executive Officer Mary Smith said.
Smith said overcrowding is also a problem.
“For instance, if you are here on a Tuesday, jurors stand out in the hallway and wait to go into the courtroom. Many courts have a jury assembly room where jurors wait until they are called,” Smith said.
Senate Bill 1407, introduced by Senate Pro Tem Don Perata (D ? Oakland) would increase court filing fees to pay for the projects statewide. The new courthouse for Lakeport is estimated to cost approximately $49.4 million.
“We desperately need a new courthouse, but there is no money, and we have to raise that somehow. The theory behind this is that the people who are using the system should be paying for it,” Smith said.
According to a statement in the San Francisco Daily Journal by Curtis Child, director of the Office of Governmental Affairs for the Judicial Council, court fees would increase by $35 on civil cases valued at more than $25,000, by $30 on cases valued between $10,000 and $25,000 and by $25 on cases valued at $10,000 or less.
Newly-installed security screening equipment will move out of the courthouse building when the courts leave, according to Rodda.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
